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Summary
Summary
Two street kids get tangled in a plot over their heads -- and risk an unexpected connection -- in this heart-pounding thriller by Tim Wynne-Jones.
Boy, did Blink get off on the wrong floor. All he wanted was to steal some breakfast for his empty belly, but instead he stumbled upon a fake kidnapping and a cell phone dropped by an "abducted" CEO, giving Blink a link to his perfect blonde daughter. Now Blink is on the run, but it's OK as long as he's smart enough to stay in the game and keep Captain Panic locked in his hold. Enter a girl named Caution. As in "Caution: Toxic." As in "Caution: Watch Your Step." She's also on the run, from a skeezy drug-dealer boyfriend and from a nightmare in her past that won't let her go. When she spies Blink at the train station, Caution can see he's an easy mark. But there's something about this naïve, skinny street punk, whom she only wanted to rob, that tugs at her heart, a heart she thought deserved not to feel. Charged with suspense and intrigue, this taut novel trails two deeply compelling characters as they forge a blackmail scheme that is foolhardy at best, disastrous at worst -- along with a fated, tender partnership that will offer them each a rare chance for redemption.
Author Notes
Tim Wynne-Jones is an award-winning writer of numerous YA novels, including The Uninvited . He lives in Ontario.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Caution is hiding from her drug-dealer boyfriend and reeling over her brother's death. Blink is a street kid who stumbles on what looks like a kidnapping, drawing him into a complicated political plot. When the teens' paths cross, they decide to help each other, keeping readers on edge the entire way. A masterful noir. (Feb.) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Wynne-Jones (The Uninvited) delivers a dazzling crime novel that evokes the taut writing and tropes of hard-boiled fiction while interweaving social justice themes and a solid sense of realism. Blink has been living on the streets ever since running away from his abusive stepfather. While on a foray into a hotel to scavenge for leftover room service food, he witnesses an oil executive's faked kidnapping and ends up getting involved as he realizes the implications of the crime. Along the way, he meets Caution, on the run both from her abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend and her guilt over the accidental shooting death of her brother. The two teens are caught up in environmental and racial issues that are far beyond their ability to remedy, and Wynne-Jones-often using a surprisingly effective second-person voice-focuses on their attempts to escape immediate danger and repair their internal emotional damage. Blink and Caution's gradual need to trust each other to heal drives the story forward, and should provide ample thrills to lovers of crime novels and strong teen characters. Ages 14-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
"It's as if you always knew something like this would happen to you one day...You'd stumble on to something, and instead of running away from it, you'd pick it up and run with it, follow it to the end." While lurking in a Toronto hotel hallway, hunting for room-service remains to eat for breakfast, a street kid who calls himself Blink happens upon a high-profile kidnapping in progress -- or is it a fake kidnapping in progress? Blink's story, told in compelling second-person narration, alternates and then intersects with that of another runaway, Caution -- "She was the one who came up with the name Caution for herself. Caution, as in Slippery When Wet...Caution, as in Toxic." Both teens have opted for the gritty life of the streets over trouble at home. (Blink is running from domestic violence; Caution from guilt over an accidental shooting death.) Though it loses focus in the end, the crime-drama element of the novel, involving a dispute over corporate uranium mining on Indian-owned land, has enough suspense and action to keep readers interested while they forge a connection with the main characters, whose relationship deepens as they help each other survive immediate dangers as well as the aftereffects of past trauma. christine m. heppermann (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Two teenagers hurt by life "with its never-ending snares and pitfalls and dire consequences" come together in this elegantly constructed noir mystery and love story. Blink is a scruffy street kid with "tea-colored eyes" trying to steal breakfast in a hotel when he witnesses what he believes is a fake kidnapping. Caution is a girl with "dove-colored eyes," who sees her relationship with badass drug dealer Merlin as penance for her past crimes. Separate narrativeswith spot-on dialogue and an effective use of a second-person point of viewcome together to unite the two characters in a breathtaking thriller as they search for the kidnapped businessman and maybe make a fair sum of money in the process. Blink and Caution are good people with tough lives, each in a kind of purgatory and each turning out to be just what the other needs. Together they make peace with their pasts and cobble together a future. Wynne-Jones' finest, most beautifully written novel yet, one more in a career full of distinguished works. (afterword)(Mystery. YA)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
What might have been a typical tale of urban desperation is turned into something more expansive and frequently beautiful, courtesy of Wynne-Jones' sensitive and perceptive writing. Street punk Blink, 16, so named for a fluttering facial tic, is having a normal day sneaking into hotels and ransacking hallways for leftover food trays when a discarded room key provides him with surprise information regarding a high-profile kidnapping hoax. In a parallel story line, 16-year-old Caution flees her abusive drug-dealing boyfriend, hitting the road with a wad of cash and retribution biting at her heels. The two hook up midbook, and their initial antagonism quickly turns into an unspoken understanding that by helping each other, they will find redemption. With its offscreen corporations and a handful of interchangeable goons, the plot never fully catches fire. But everything else is terrific: the short, punchy sentences Wynne-Jones fires like buckshot; the joy, fear, and doubt that punctuate the teens' every action. This is gritty, sure, but more than that, it's smart, and earns every drop of its hopeful finish.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist